[02/25/25] Bellezza, Dario / Covino, Peter (tr.): What Sex Is Death?

University of Wisconsin Press, paperback

Translated by: Peter Covino

Publication Date: February 25, 2025

Publisher Marketing: Over the course of twenty-five years, Dario Bellezza--Italy's first openly gay, major prize-winning poet-novelist-playwright--published more than twenty books, including eight poetry collections. His debut, Invective and License (1971), established him as a bold, daring poet, energetically exploring love, sexual transformation, and death. He later won the Viareggio Prize, Italy's most prestigious poetry award, and the Montale Prize for lifetime poetic achievement. After his death, two volumes of selected works appeared, and in 2015 an edition of his collected poems arrived to great acclaim. Yet, until now, his work has never been available in English. Bellezza embraced a variety of forms, from unabashed love lyric to political narrative, and the fervor of his voice makes a compelling argument for his lasting importance as one of the most remarkable poets of the late twentieth century. Award-winning translator Peter Covino offers a wide-ranging selection of the most representative poetry from Bellezza's career. Influenced by Rimbaud, the Beats, and the growing European gay rights movements, the poetry in this volume remains both innovative and timely. Ranging from stray cats in the graveyards of Rome, to the literal and metaphoric fallout from the Chernobyl disaster, to the joys and disappointments of random hookups, Bellezza's dazzling visions will sparkle in readers' eyes like sunspots long after they complete this magnificent volume. "Exited from a tomb at the English Cemetery I don't know how long you'll last, a month, a year: you remain sole anchor of salvation in a life uncertain of tomorrow." --Excerpt from "Cats"